Sprint is officially apologizing after their ad, in which a woman called T-Mobile “ghetto” when the company’s CEO asked users what they thought of other phone carriers, sparked controversy on Tuesday (Apr. 12).
The video, which sought to ask “real questions” to actual customers for “honest answers” saw Marcelo Claure ask a collective of Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile subscribers how they felt about other mobile companies. Immediately, a woman shared what she thought of the competition and had especially choice words for T-Mobile.
“The first word that came to my head was ghetto,” she said. “That sounds, like, terrible, but, oh my God, I don’t know.”
As others heartily laughed, the woman tried to explain why her initial thought was the controversial word. “I just felt like there’s always, like, three carriers. There’s AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon and people who have T-Mobile are just like…Why do you have T-Mobile,” she asked.
Though Claure said that the video was “not meant to offend anyone,” backlash was swift, and shortly after he shared the brief clip on Twitter, he announced that he was pulling the ad down.
“My job is to listen to consumers. Our point was to share customer views. Bad judgment on our part. Apologies. Taking the video down.”
My job is to listen to consumers. Our point was to share customer views. Bad judgment on our part. Apologies. Taking the video down.
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) April 13, 2016
The businessman continued his apology tour on Wednesday (Apr. 13). In a series of tweets, Claure once again apologized for his insensitivity and called the fallout a “lesson learned.”
1/3 I’ve just read all the comments regarding the video we posted and I want to profoundly apologize again to anyone I offended.
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) April 14, 2016
2/3 As a proud Hispanic immigrant, I should have
been more sensitive and known not to publish the customers’ comment.— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) April 14, 2016
3/3 This was an honest mistake and lesson learned.
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) April 14, 2016
Watch Sprint’s ad here.